Decoy Gang War Victim, 1974/2012

Beginning in the early 1970s, the Los Angeles–based multi-media arts collective Asco (Spanish for “nausea” or “disgust”) pushed the boundaries of what art in general and “Chicano art” specifically might encompass. One of their abiding concerns was a lack of access to the news media, which misrepresented Mexican Americans through fear-baiting, sensational coverage of gang violence. Asco’s Decoy Gang War Victim functioned as a media hoax: artist Gronk was posed as a victim of gang violence while the other artists blocked the street where his body lay. They then attempted to pass off the photograph of this performance as legitimate reportage; one local TV station actually ran it. In this way, Asco toyed with the idea that if they could dupe the media, then perhaps they could get people to think critically about how the media might be duping them.